A story of a lifetime
by koleare
Summary: Minato's last wish is that all of the people know that his son hosts the Kyubi.How does this changes things? NaruSaku, AU
1. Namikaze

A/N Okay,just had this idea coming up my mind out of nowhere.I have put my other story on hiatus and I think it will be on it a big time since this story will most likely take up all Naruto's is a Naruto/Sakura story,even if it will be later because they will have big time well ,I hope you will enjoy reading this and I will do my best for the best storytelling possible from me…

Summary: How would history's lines would stretch if Naruto would know who his father would be from the start? A Naruto/Sakura fanfic rated T for the moment, Alternate Universe.

* * *

The meeting room was perplexed by Minato's decision,the greatest of the tailed beasts,the Kyubi was on it's way towards Konoha and there was little time left to make important -hokage,Hiruzen Sarutobi,was the first to speak his concern towards Yondaime,the current Hokage.

"But Minato-kun,by making the deal with the Death God,you would die as well."

"I know it will be a sacrifice necessary to protect the villagers,the whole Konoha",serious as ever,the genius,Konoha's Yellow Flash replied.

After thinking a few moments,Sarutobi continued.

"I understand it is your job as a Hokage to protect Konoha and it's villagers,but the Kyubi is a chakra being,he's immortal and cannot be deafeated,even by Shinigami itself."

"I have already thought of that 's why I have developed a new seal that I hope it will far as I can predict,it will split Kyubi's chakra into two halves,one that will be feeding Shinigami and the other that needs to be sealed into a newborn infant.I will offer my own child just to shut Kyubi down forever so that he will never threaten us again."

The council room was now silent. They knew that once Minato has set up a plan he couldn't be taken away from it.

Sarutobi, after a few minutes of thinking, decided to break the silence once again.

"Minato-kun,I know that you care about Konoha,but what will happen to your child and Kushina?You know what happens to all Jinchiuriki and how they are treated."

"Here comes my last will,Sarutobi.I want Naruto to be recognized as the hero that protects the village every day so I want everyone to know that he is the vessel of Kyubi and he is my son."

"You have many enemies Minato-kun, and by that you would only be threatening him even more."

"I know that Sarutobi,and that's why I want you to find and talk to Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade and tell them that is my last will to take care of my son. I will try and talk to Kushina before I take Naruto to the sealing process.I wish you all,luck with reconstructing if anything happens to Konoha." And with that Minato shunshined away.

"Well good people of Konoha,all we can do now is hope that the seal will work. I will go in search of Tsunade and Jiraiya.",It was Sarutobi's turn to shunshin away,leaving a silent council room behind.

* * *

"Minato, I won't let you take our son to seal the Kyubi in him. I will try and stop you even if it kills me" shouted an angered Kushina, taken back by Minato's decision.

"I know that all Jinchiuriki are treated as they are and that's why I ask you to remain by our son's side his life. All Jinchiuriki are treated as they are because they don't have a loving family." replied the calm Hokage.

Raindrops were by now dropping on the Hospital's windows.

Tears were falling on its floors.

"But…but…" Kushina could not say anything between her sobs. From time to time, her gasps for air were filing room 10 of the maternity.

"Look Kushina…I hope you can give our son the life he deserves, in a loving family. I love you and-"

She now felt his presence behind her. Feeling a slight guttural pain in her throat she collapsed unconscious, hearing his last words, "I'm sorry".

"You really are taking the things to the extremes lately Minato" A large man tilted by the doors frame said.

Minato moved to the window and watched the crescent moon in all its beauty. With a sad voice he managed to say reply,

"I wish that I could see my son growing up. I wish that I could see him as Hokage.I wish that I could give my approval to the girl he will love to marry him. I just wish that I could sit back and watch him grow. I just wish that whatever path he will take, I could be around the corner and tell him how proud I am of him."

A red light was now filling the horizon. He started to search in his pockets for something.

"Jiraiya-sensei, take care of my son and I ask of you to remind him that I will be always proud of him."

After finding what he was looking for, he handed it to Jiraiya.

"This scroll is for Naruto's eyes only. Give it to him when you think he will be mentally prepared for it. It contains my last words for him and the secret to my Hiraishin in case he decides to take the shinobi path. The seal will open only at the trickle of his blood. Take care of Kushina-chan as well and when she wakes up tell her I am sorry."

Minato came to face off Jiraiya, who didn't say anything in this meeting, their last meeting. The sad frown on the face of the teacher was giving it all. He was already mourning so Minato took his sensei into a quick hug and gave a light chuckle,

"Sensei, one last request"

Jiraiya, not finding any words decided to give him only a nod.

"Say hi to Tsunade and keep your hentai books away from my son"

At the statement, they both laughed dryly.

"Don't worry Minato, I will keep him away from my writings-"chuckling to himself, he added 'until legal age of course' "-and away from Tsunade's brutal strength".

After a few more seconds of cackles,jiraiya continued.

"Now now Minato, don't have anything else to do?" managed Jiraiya to say.

"Right..."

Passing near his lover, he kissed her one last time…

With sadness written on his face, he took his son from her embrace carefully.

"Good-bye sensei and please help Sarutobi-jiji with Konoha"

Jiraiya only nodded, and resumed his place on the frame of the door. It was going to be a long night.

The storm was violent.

The horizon was flickering with red lights.

The water droplets were now meeting two gigantic figures, one in front of Konoha and the other one facing it.

One was containing all hopes for humanity, the other one growling madly wanting to erase it.

His tears were now hidden by the rain. It wouldn't matter if anyone saw him anyway since most of them were either dead or scattered through the borrows that kept them safe.

"Be good…my son"

Two seconds later?

It was all gone. The large growling beast was nowhere to be seen. A miracle.

No time for miracles thoe…the time is for mourning.

* * *

The birds were chirping. The sun rays were penetrating the thick window glass in Konoha's Hospital. The last night would remain only as a black night in Konoha's history. A night when people had thrown their lives to protect the ones they love. A black day indeed and at the top of the 'KIA' list was the fourth Hokage himself. He sacrificed his life in hope that Konoha would see another day, a sunny one, that would not predict the rain that would fall down that night…the rain falling from the eyes of those who himself, alongside the others sacrificed his life for. In order to bring this new day, he sacrificed what he had the most precious as well…his own son, bringing him on a path full of pain and perils every corner he would pass near. His motives were unknown and neither to this day has been found why he did it with his own son, why he sealed the Kyubi no Yoko,the nine tailed-beast, the most powerful of them all…in his own son. All the facts will remain unanswered because of his own motives…and a sleepy face that groaned from its hospital bed…

"What the hall happened?" asked Kushina whilst rubbing her eyes.

Jiraiya, now by the window and looking at the reconstruction of Konoha asked the obvious, "You don't remember anything?"

Kushina settled by a shook of her head to let her get out of her sleepiness, "No…the last thing I remember is that Minato…" she remembered the last frames of the night before.

"-is sorry" the sannin added to her sentence with a sad tone.

Tears were now threatening to fall from Kushinas eyes. The silence took control of the situation until she saw that something was missing.

"Where is Naruto?"

Jiraiya turned to her, "Right now he is with Tsunade.I don't know how but Sarutobi-jiji managed to find her faster than I could think of. She is making a checkup on his health. Don't worry now, thoe…I have brought him after the sealing process and other than slight tickles that he might feel until he develops his chakra coils completely he is fine." He turned himself again towards the window, thinking…thinking about how much his student changed his life, how much he meant for him and vice-versa. Of course he would keep his word and watch over Naruto…like a grandfather and the godfather he was. How will his life change now? The answers for this question would be found only in the future…

Something was not right thoe…he turned around to see that Kushina was not there.

"Kushina?"

'Damn…where can she hide' he asked himself.

He turned himself towards the door and made himself way towards the checkup room asking any nurses he found if they had seen the red-haired woman.

* * *

Tsunade was during the last tests when the door bashed against the wall with a small bang. At that moment Naruto started to cry and Tsunade took him into her arms protectively and trying to calm him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked the panting white-haired man.

"ughh…I wanted…to ask….if you have seen….Kushina" he replied between pants.

She shrugged "Wasn't you supposed to watch over her? And for god's sake, Minato left you and me to watch over his son's life. Can't you do anything else good besides peeping on naked girls?"

"Well…I am not peeping…I am gathering info" replied Jiraiya regathering his breath.

"Tch…just go!"

'Even thoe I haven't seen her for some years it seems she is the same…' he thought as he closed the door behind him.

'Damn…she can't be using the shadow walk jutsu' a frown forming now on his face.

Walking, he was thinking now where she could go after just exiting the hospital.'Konoha Memorial' he thought.

With that in his mind, he jumped from roof to roof on the remaining Konoha houses. The rebuilding was already in process even thoe, a melancholic feeling was still floating in the air. Beyond the melancholic one there was still one that could be sent kilometers apart…the one of death, the one of burnt tissue, one of the only things that could remind everyone of the night before.

Closing the distance between him and the memorial stone that was already in place, he could see more and more villagers mourning the death of their great leader. Near the stone he could figure only two persons, Sarutobi holding into a hug the red-haired women. The funeral for the losses was to be made that night and the preparations were nearing completion. He approached the site and put his hand on Kushina's shoulder, wanting to show her that he was there to in case that she needed his shoulder. With a lighting reflex she jumped from Sandaime's hug into Jiraiya's one. The sannin looked over her shoulder and saw Minato's photo…his student's photo…his 'son's' photo…and let a small tear following his scrunched face features. After a few minutes of silence and Sarutobi's leave, wanting them to have some time alone, Jiraiya managed to let out a sight with his words…

"We will all miss Minato greatly, but he left you with a son. What do you plan to do?"

Minato was really a genius and Jiraiya knew that. Days before the Kyubi invasion, he told Jiraiya that if he died, Kushina would have to choose between their unborn child and really knew that she really loved him and would want to follow him in his sannin was now watching her grimace and knew that Minato was right and she really thought about suicide 'Damn women…sometimes they are graceful as the leaves flowing down with the wind but sometimes they are unthinkably wrong with their ways.' He thought.

After a few sobs, Kushina gasped for air and clearing her throat she replied "I don't know what I will do without him."

"Even if you die, you will never be by his side." Kushina now turned her shocked faced towards him as he continued "he made a pact with the Shinnigami and his soul will be eternally doomed into…Hell" She jerked after hearing this words. She didn't know the full implications with the Death God."Live for him" he lastly added.

She was now on her knees.

"Please Kami forgive me for even thinking at such an idea" she was now sobbing harder than kneeled now near her and taken her again in his hug, comforting her.

* * *

Later that day, the whole village came to commemorate their fallen comrades, friends, brothers, fathers or mothers, their fellow citizens, their fallen Hokage and savior of human-kind. Behind them remained the symbol of their sacrifice…the heartbroken people?...the tears that continued to fall?...no, Naruto…the living symbol of those that sacrificed their lifes, those that had fallen as heroes.

The villagers alongside all the shinobi gathered in front of the Memorial Stone in 20 lines. They were all staring at the photo of the the middle was left a free , wearing now a black knee length dress was caring the 2 days born Naruto went towards the Memorial while people were bowing their heads down in respect as she passed by them. As Kushina reached the last line of people she was met with two hands on each of her shoulders. One was Sarutobi's, who considered Minato almost as his grandson. The other one was Jiraiya's, Minato's sensei, who grew very close to him almost like to a son. The one and only godfather of recognized the person standing next to Jiraiya as Tsunade,the second of the three sannin,maybe the best medical ninja in the whole ninja world and one of the most beautiful as well known as the 'Legendary Sucker'.Tsunade gave a brief nod towards Kushina who replied the same.

As Kushina reached the small altar in front of the memorial stone, she placed with care the now most precious object in her life, the sleeping Naruto, oblivious to everyone and everything right now and began her little funeral speech turning to the crowd.

"First I would like a small moment of silence in remembrance"

They did as she told and after a couple of minutes continued.

"I would like to send my message of condolences to all families that were ripped apart by the attack of the Kyubi.I know the village of Konoha has passed through the worst times in the past few years, first the third Shinobi war and now the Kyubi attack. If it wouldn't be for you all as well Konoha right now wouldn't exist anymore and the great Will of Fire that goes through the generations would have extinguished. I hope this sad day won't escape the lines of History and be forgotten. The day itself doesn't matter in it's context but those that were in our hearts will always live watching us and forgetting them would be the greatest sin." She then turned towards Naruto and took him into her arms and presented him in front of the crowd.

"Minato's last will was that his son was to be presented to the whole village. My husband was overjoyed even with his unborn son. He told me so many times that the first thing he would after his son would be born was to present him to the whole village as I do now unfortunately at this event where we cry for those fallen." Kushina now turned towards the two sannin's and Sandaime who nodded in return.

"His son's name is Naruto and he let him under the protection of the four people you see in front of you. From now on he will be recognized as Naruto Namikaze, the last member of the Namikaze clan. The jail of the greatest of the tailed-beasts, Kyubi no Yoko,protector of you all, Namikaze Minato's, Yondaime's greatest legacy, the next keeper of the Will of Fire that runs through us all." She kissed Naruto on the forehead and ended her speech. The crowd replied with smiles.

It was now Sarutobi's turn as he stepped in front looking at the gathered crowd.

"As Kushina-chan said, the only thing that keeps us united, the hope we all are clinging on is the very same flame that burns into our hearts is the Will of Fire. The Will of Fire exists in all beings that we see around us but only those that can feel it will keep a close connection to the keeper of it, the Hokage itself. I am regretting for the lives that Kyubi took but now everything will be all right as it is sealed into Minato's own blood, by his own love, for the only Will of Fire. I know what happens to all the Jinchiuriki and how they are treated because they are considered monsters or demons, but I want to remind all of you that he is our angel not a demon. He is the last barrier between Kyubi and us. Threat him as our hero." It was his turn to kiss Naruto on the forehead. Noting that Jiraiya and Tsunade kissed him as well without saying any speech let the old man to make his final declaration that night.

"I, Sandaime, the current Hokage of Konoha, the current keeper of the Will of Fire, declare the funerals open and as a current citizen of Konoha I declare to start praying for the souls of the fallen."

The night was slowly taking control of the daylight as the villagers were putting their last words towards the heroes. The small raindrops were now starting to fall as the final sun rays were ending.

* * *

Seven days have passed from the fatidic day.

Seven days of mourning, the black week in Konoha.

The reconstructions were taking place all around Konoha.

Every day, as the villagers were now passing through the everyday busy place of Konoha Center, they were marveling at a small compound situated near Hokage's mansion, a small compound that guarded in big letters at the entrance '_NAMIKAZE COMPUND'_.A small compound in which were living only four people and having a small place for each one of them.

The first chamber to the right was the property of Jiraiya, the great toad sage. It was rather simplistic and everyone from the street could see what was he doing and the many scripts that were laying on his walls. In the back of his small house there was a small training ground.

The second chamber was the one of the second sannin, Tsunade, the 'slug princess'. Even though the entrance was protected by a personal genjutsu, she didn't have much a valors besides her medical tools. After all, Sarutobi put her in the position of director of the hospital so she could use what was already there.

The third was Kushina' didn't have many values besides her photos with Minato thoe,no one knew that she had some secret compartments sealed by genjutsu and her blood in which she held the true treasury, scrolls with techniques left by Minato or her sensei, but the most important scroll, the one that she guarded it with her life, the scroll from Minato to his son.

The forth chamber was Naruto's one. It was the biggest one which was held under a genjutsu which was guarding Minato's own items. Decorating the walls were photos of Minato along his teacher, Tsunade, Kushina, all his important people. In the back of his house there was a training field bigger than the one Jiraiya owned. The training field was leading to a small path that leaded to the Hokage's chambers.

The house was silent when a silent cry began and the source of it was immediately surrounded by two woman touches (as Jiraiya was on errands *chuckles*).The source?

"Ok Naruto calm down."Kushina told her son while swinging him little.

This is the start of a story of a lifetime of the greatest ninja that ever existed, Namikaze Naruto.

* * *

A/N So what do you think? :D

Okay before I end, I have a few requests:

1. Could someone please tell me how is "grandma" and "grandpa" in Japanese? I want to introduce a bit of culture into this story.

2. Well, this chapter I really argued myself if I should kill Kushina or not. I was really close killing her but I decided that I will prolong a little her life a bit (so I'm still thinking of killing her) so what do you think?

Well I know the last part is kind of lame(with the chambers and so) but I had already planed what to do with them so the information's about chambers and such will be used in the next chapters.

Right now I am finishing my ideas about pairing as well. I will tell my final decision in the chapter, but the story is a NaruSaku one but will have kind of slow development.

This chapter was meant to be a prologue and I think I achieved that.

Well, help me get a better writer and please review. I don't know how long it will be the whole story but I hope I will achieve at least 100k words. I will put some lemons as well if I get many reviews.

I hope as well that I will release the next chapter by Sunday.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed reading it!

And by the way,I hate that in the update some words are someone knows how it can be prevented?


	2. Childhood

A/N Ok the final pairing list is this –Naruto/Sakura (of course), Jiraiya/Tsunade, Kiba/Hinata (in my opinion second chance to happen in the manga as well after NaruSaku), and I have plenty of time to think about Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru and Temari (but I won't tell them if they are cannon but you will see signs if they are developing) and Sasuke? Well, really I don't put him with anyone…figures why?

Okay, next issue…Kushina…I won't 'kill' her at least for the moment. Of course Naruto's destiny will be influenced by his mother so it won't happen anything to her. Another thing that I can say at the moment is that Sakura won't be a _total_ fangirl towards _Sasuke_.

Another thing I can tell is that the story will keep the format of the following quote: "Live to learn. Learn to Love. Love to Live." I have found this quote whilst reading a good NaruSaku fanfic where Jiraiya was helping the two of them to get together and in the final chapter he said this words which I found quite striking. Unfortunately I can't give proper credits to the author because I don't remember the title of the story, so please someone help me! :D

This chapter is about Naruto's childhood and his first day at the ninja academy.

Warning! The first part of the story could be slightly boring because I present the state of Konoha after one month from the Kyubi. I see it quite necessary.

Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"Shush Naruto" she told him as she winged the crying baby in his little swinger.

One month has passed from the funerals. A full month of reconstructions, not only physical reconstructions of Konoha but a psychical one of the villagers that inhabited it as well. The village of Konoha was now looking quite great and the longing for a peaceful atmosphere was finally accomplished. Eventually, all the villagers recognized Naruto and Yondaime as their saviors and were trying to make friendships and alliances with the new-founded 'Namikaze Clan'. Old alliances were reestablished between the main clans as well. The Uchiha and Hyuga have finally reached a peace accord to stop their fighting and help together in the rehabilitation of Konoha.

On political terms, Konoha was on the best stats since the last war. The council of Konoha, due to the suicidal orders they gave to the shinobi that met their end in the Kyubi attack was dissolved only to be redefined by an all shinobi council, thus making Konoha truly a shinobi village. Now here was one leader from each of the main clans all under the reign of the current Hokage and his councilors. There were now eight leaders as said" Nara Shikaku from the Nara clan, Inoichi Yamanaka from the Yamanaka clan, Chouza Akimichi from the Akimichi clan, Hiashi Hyuga from the Hyuga clan, Inuzuka Tsume from the Inuzuka clan, Shibi Aburame from the Aburame clan, Fugaku Uchiha from the Uchiha clan and lastly but not the last, Kushina Namikaze (she took the Namikaze name alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade to form the clan) from the Namikaze clan.

The village was like an ant nest during time of day. The market area was where you could find all sorts of things you needed. From the food stands to the ninja wear ones, the area being 'infected' with those that appeared to be in their middle ages. The mountain where the faces of the Hokages were planted was of course invaded by the young ones that were playing ninja. The old ones were looking at them with nostalgic feeling, that like yesterday they were playing the same games. Life in Konoha village? An outsider would say it was perfect if they didn't know the full truth of what really happened just one month ago.

"Oh Naruto. What am I going to do with you? I barely get some sleep." The defeated Kushina said.

"Wait a minute. We have visitors. Let's see who could it be?" she asked as she took Naruto in her arms going towards the entrance of the small compound knowing who it was before they stepped into the reception chamber.

Before her was standing a middle aged woman, with long black hair and clothed in normal household garments. In her arms she was caring a small boy visibly older than Kushina's waved towards her visitors and with her free hand began to tickle the little baby who gave a laugh.

"Hey Mikoto-chan" Mikoto Uchiha waved as reply and gave a brief hi.

"Naruto, look who's here. It's Sasuke-kun. My my… he is quite a bigger boy since the last time we have seen him." And by that, the babies greeted each other with laughs. 'So much carefree atmosphere between them. Hmph' thought Kushina.

"Well come in Mikoto-chan and let's take the children in Naruto's playground." And they did as she proposed. After they let their children play, Kushina led Mikoto into her small kitchen to have a cup of tea.

"What brings you today Mikoto?" she asked taking a sip from her tea.

Mikoto took a sip of her tea as well before replying "Well I am just bored. I would have brought Itachi as well but he is too busy with his father as always. I wish he could be more social than he is. And well I had another 'talk' with Fugaku about Itachi and he said that he will push Itachi even more from now on."

Bowing slightly her head she continued "and well I just thought that Naruto and you would be in need of some company since Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama are both to busy."

"Tch…if only you would know. Tsunade is so captured by her research and her patients that she comes only very late at night. Jiraiya…well you know what he does besides going out on small trips to write his book." Both chuckling at the thought.

"Say…would you like to go to a little shopping trip? Just the two of us. I will ask Sarutobi to watch over the kids since he seems kind of bored with paper work." Kushina continued.

"You tell me?" both laughing now.

And this is how the relations between the Namikaze and Uchiha along with Mikoto became best friends. Soon, the two mothers were going out together on shopping twice a week together while letting Sasuke and Naruto to play together under the close watch of Sarutobi…who was shocking Kushina and Mikoto every time they returned home and they found him playing along the two children.

Jiraiya was starting to make hard choices for his life. It was either he took Naruto to begin his ninja life (even thoe he didn't even know how to walk) or to continue on his errands around the village. Tsunade continued to work on her medical jutsu's and three months after she began her research, she completed what it was supposed to be a chakra reserve which allowed its user to vastly replenish his chakra for a small time and to greatly accelerate the cell division rate at the expense of life power. She decided to put it as a small purple crystal on her forehead. The two sannins met almost weekly in Konoha's training grounds to have a friendly spar in which every time, their name as 'Legendary Sannins' would prove wrong to any passerby that it wasn't friendly at all when they saw the huge scars on the battlefield.

Kushina was doing her job as a good mother to give Naruto the big steps in his life. At four months he began to walk. At the fragile age of 8 months he has spoken his first word when the Namikaze clans had one of their usual gossip meetings and were talking about the other clans and important families in Konoha. With great will power he has managed to murmur his first word… 'family'. Of course the first reactions of everyone in the room was ecstatic, his mother intoning a "My boy is growing up so fast", Tsunade just a "Good boy" and patting him on the head and between the voices of the ones mentioned, it could be heard with so much proudness in his chosen words "He would've made Minato so proud." Of course, everyone knew now that Naruto will fight with all his powers to protect those he loves, the ones he will consider his family, his friends.

Naruto was a fast learner even in his childhood. By the age of two he already managed to have a very basic vocabulary mainly due to his mother who really pushed him to make a great man. She intended to make him a scholar at his young age. But she wasn't the only one that was already excited on planning her son's life. There were two other people. Jiraiya was one of them and he started since his grandson was no older than one month. He already prepared the training ground and some jutsu scrolls and now he was in the finishing faze, making a training program. Tsunade wasn't an 'outsider' either and she was preparing a chakra control program.

Naruto has grown out to be a fine boy by the age of five, when he made out his first move into the 'outside world', the first day out of the compound. He felt himself slowly pushed from the back by a pair of slender woman hands on both of his shoulders.

"Now Naruto, enjoy your day!" Kushina said while smiling towards her son.

"But mommy! I want to play with Sarutobi-sama!" he whined.

"No buts young man! Go and make some friends! Sarutobi-sama needs some pause after yesterday." She remembered clearly that when she came home, she found Naruto and Sarutobi each with a jar of cherry jelly that were throwing at each other with small spoons. The house needed to be cleaned so she evacuated Naruto for a day.

"And where am I supposed to go mommy?"

She pointed out a direction and told him "Just go straight towards there and you will find a park where could be others of your age." She winked and waved a goodbye before returning to the household.

Naruto shrugged and started walking towards the park. From time to time thoe, he watched the four Hokage heads sculpted into the mountain. Until then he always stayed in the compound so he managed to saw the faces but from a side view, where now, he could stare towards them. He knew what were the Hokages and about the shinobi after his little history lessons with his mother, but he didn't know the whole truth. He stopped in front of the entrance in the park to look again towards the four faces as he felt a slight connection that he held towards the statues. He shrugged once again and entered the park.

Wherever he would look he saw children playing. There were many of his same age as well at his first glance so he could make some friends. 'Always make friends, then keep them close so you can help them when they are in need and let them help you when you will need them.' he remembered his mother's words. He had in his mind to talk to the first group of children he will meet, but the idea that he didn't knew what he would tell them made him all flustered. He took a step backwards to begin his walk towards home but he was interrupted when he met a human body, a tall one. He raised his view to see this person's face and to ask him forgiveness but he was met with a fond smile and a pat on his hair. With glimmering eyes he showed a smile of himself.

"Ojii-chan!"

"Now there Naruto. You didn't really think Kushina-chan would let you all by yourself, did you?" Jiraiya presented himself and continued "now let's find someone for you to play with. I have certain information that a certain Uchiha and his brother are playing in this park right now." He let out a chuckle and kneeled near Naruto to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's find them ojii-chan." Now happy that there was Sasuke to play with, he decided to not return home and took Jiraiya's hand and ran inside the park.

"Wow Naruto. For a second I thought you really wanted to go home."

"Now that you and Sasuke are here I know there's someone to play with." The smile could be felt in his voice that made Jiraiya smile as well, a smile that gave him peace and made him very happy.

After a while of searching around, Jiraiya and Naruto finally found the persons they were looking for. They entered a small playground in which there were two swingers and a small slide. In one swinger a young Sasuke was laughing at something with his older brother, Itachi, who decided to give the 'friend thing' a chance with apparent no success even thoe not needing any since he was very happy with his little brother and from times to times with Naruto. In the playground there were three other boys dressing up a cat while laughing. Three parents were apparently gossiping while taking glances at their children.

"Hey Naruto, why don't you go and present yourself to those kids and ask to play with them, while I go and talk 'mature manners' with those parents."

Naruto nodded shyly and started walking towards the three boys. Before he went to them he passed near Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke. Want to go to those boys and see if they want to be friends with us?" he offered with a small smile on his lips.

"Why not?" he returned the smile and both started walking towards the boys.

The three boys were still dressing the cat before they saw the 'intruders' of their game. Naruto and Sasuke saw as the three nodded to themselves and started running into different directions. Caught by a pair of hands from his back, Naruto quickly turned around and applied a punch in the guts of the attacker. Sasuke did the same and they both turned towards the third boy that didn't make any move.

"You have some skills. No wonder you two are from the two greatest clans."

With a smirk, Sasuke replied smugly.

"Heh, so you know us."

"Of course I do. My name is Shikamaru Nara and you must be Naruto Namikaze and Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto shook Shikamaru's hand. "Well yeah. Want to be friends?"

Shikamaru turned towards Sasuke and shook his hand as well and replied "Sure, why not? By the way, those two guys are Kiba Inuzuka and Chouji Akimichi." The two mentioned shot out a 'hey' before turning to their parents.

"Wow. You three are from the main clans" said Naruto after a bit of thought.

"Technically we all five are" Shikamaru chuckled before continuing "would you two want to help us with this cat?"

"Sure" Naruto and Sasuke both chorused.

In the meantime, Chouza, Tsume, Mikoto and Jiraiya were talking mainly about the latest gossips that were running into the village. They were interrupted when they saw the altercation between their children.

"Wow Jiraiya-sama. I suppose you started working with the little child already, am I right?" asked an interested Chouza.

"Frankly, I have taught him only some basic taijutsu movements. He is still too young and I still wait for his last decision that he really wants to be a shinobi. I will have a talk with him when he will be six years old. Until then I will let him do whatever he wants"

It was now Tsume's turn to ask.

"And what will happen to him if he doesn't want to be a shinobi?"

Jiriya shrugged. "Well, we haven't even taken into account this possibility. He carries his father's genes so is most likely that he wants to become a ninja in his subconscious. He will need the right push from behind to make the right decision."

"His time will come." Mikoto continued Jiraiya's sentence to which all nodded.

The children played for some time and then decided to take a break in which they talked about their parents. The day Naruto made his decision. It was Kiba's turn.

"I want to become a ninja just like all the others in my family. I want to protect them and not to be the one protected all the time. Well kaa-san always talks about how good is the life a ninja but how many sacrifices will be needed but I will take the risk no matter what. Oto-san encourages me more to start working from now for the academy. What about you Naruto?"

Naruto was looking towards the four Hokage heads. He was melancholic for reason even he didn't know. He finally snapped out of his dreaming by Kiba's voice.

"Eh? Well…I don't know what I will do. I want to go to the academy but I don't think my family would support me. I know for a change that ojii-chan wants me to become like him, a great ninja but I don't know. Kaa-san told me as well that ninjas are the ones that protect the peace around the world, they protect their beloved and are the ones that hold justice against bad people. I…I don't know nothing of oto-san. I don't know why I asked not even once about him. Maybe he was a ninja and was killed, but no-one told me a thing about him. I think I will ask ojii-chan. Wait a minute!"

"Okay Naruto." Replied in a chorused way his friends.

Jiraiya saw as Naruto came in front of him and tensed when he heard what he had asked.

"Hey ojii-chan. How was my father?"

One minute passed as it seemed like the man was trying to find his words. The others on the bench tensed a little as well, knowing it wouldn't be simple. Jiraiya gaped a little but then found his words.

"Well I saw you that you looked several times towards the statues on the mountain. Do you know who are they?"

"Yeah. They are the Hokages, the greatest of the ninja…aren't they?"

"The forth head you see there was the one of your father." He let Naruto a couple of minutes to stare dreamily towards the Hokages after waking him up and continuing. "He was one of the most powerful ninja in the whole world if not the most powerful. He got the nickname of 'Konoha's yellow flash' because he got a speed that no-one could even match. He was not only a genius, but a hardworking one, and I couldn't be more proud than having him as my student."

"But if he was so powerful why is he dead?"

Jiraiya thought about it for seconds trying again to find the perfect words that could describe why his student died.

"Minato died because he wanted to protect his loved ones, his friend, his family. He wanted you to grow up to be a fine man that could continue the job he left behind. His will was that you would be a shinobi and follow its path, a shinobi more powerful than him." Of course, Jiraiya knew that he contorted the words a little bit but he decided that this should be the last push.

Naruto now stood with a blank feeling on his face, but he found his next words deep in his heart and said them without hesitation.

"Then I will become a better shinobi than my father and I will become Hokage to continue his work." He said satisfied and then turned towards his friends. The three adults who stood now near Jiraiya were looking with a fond smile towards Naruto and Mikoto found words to ask Jiraiya.

"You contorted a bit didn't you?"

With a chuckle Jiraiya replied "Well…yes!

And so the afternoon found them chuckling together, the children in their own world and the adults in their own.

Arrived home, Jiraiya and Naruto were greeted by Kushina who looked very happy.

"So Naruto, how was your day?" she asked.

"Very good mommy and all the ninja playing made me very hungry." He told her as he rubbed his stomach.

"Well then, come in! I have made your favorite to celebrate this day." Pointing towards the table, where there were one bowl of house-made ramen.

The night went out smoothly as every other Friday night, the usual gossip night between the adults of the Namikaze clan. While they were talking, Naruto really thought if he should ask as he was thinking about it in the previous days. He decided to let it go, so he went towards their table and dropped the bomb.

"Hey ojii-chan! Why aren't you married to obaa-chan?"

The first reaction?

Some giggles from Kushina which was obviously trying as hard as she could to not burst out into laughter. Jiraiya was put the third time into a hard situation this day. Tsunade, was beginning to show off a slight new tint to her face, a tint that holds a lot of emotions. Embarrassment, anger and… a little bit of love. Jiraiya stumbled his reply as he was really out of words at the sudden question.

"Oh well…you see…uhm…oh well…we...I think Tsunade should better reply."

Tsunade was looking prepared and of course she expected the question just not this early.

"You see Naruto, we like other people and we need to like each other to get married."

"But you like each. I see how you are stealing looks from time to time."  
Okay. She didn't expect this one so she just blushed to further her embarrassment. Kushina finally let it out and she was laughing like a maniac. She saw just how her son could interpret love and how so early at his fragile age. She remembered when Minato asked them the same question and let them both flustered.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Hey Jiraiya-sensei. Why aren't you married to Tsunade-sama already? I thought you liked her or something."_

"_Well….she likes someone else now. She has a fiancée and I don't need to watch over her like I did when I was younger._

_Speaking of the devil. Tsunade turned around the corner and asked rhetorically the men._

"_And what are you supposed to be doing here? Peeping again on women?"_

_Jiraiya replied with a sarcastic tone._

"_Uhm…training?" he shot a glance beyond her shoulder when he saw a very pretty woman with a long red hair. "And who might this lovely lady be?"_

"_Uhm…hello…my name is Kushina Uzumaki." Noticing the glare she received from Jiraiya she blushed quickly._

"_Don't dare you look like that to my young protégé, Jiraiya!" Tsunade cried out._

_Minato, looking at the beautiful young lady in front of him, blushed quickly but a smirk formed on his lips when he saw how she was looking at his sensei and his sensei's crush knowing already what she had in mind so he asked once again._

"_So sensei. Why aren't you married with her already?" His first sight was Kushina giggling and he couldn't help but think about it. 'She is really beautiful. How fast I can turn everything into a crush.' Then he turned to his sensei noticing the blush on his face and the look he was giving to his crush. Tsunade wasn't coping any better. Taking that neither one of those two wouldn't talk for a while, he took the opportunity._

"_Well Kushina-chan! Would you like to accompany me to a nice place while this two resolve their matters?"_

"_I would surely like that, uhm…"_

"_Minato."_

"_Minato-kun." A smile tugging on her lips._

One happy day for her, the day she met Minato. Thinking about it, she realized that Naruto was turning into his father more and more. Of course, she didn't knew Naruto's decision to continue his father's work but she saw the smile that Jiraiya kept only on special occasions when they came home so she would ask about it later.

"Well Naruto, would you like to see us together?" Tsunade replied after a while, a fond smile on her face. She didn't turn to see Jiraiya's shocked expression thoe.

Naruto let out a light laugh. "I wouldn't call you obaa-chan and ojii-chan if I wouldn't see you together."

"We will talk over it, Naruto. You, however, are too little to understand feelings."

"But obaa-chan, I see when two people like each other. For example, I saw a girl with pink hair and one blond looking fond towards Sasuke and I think they like him."

"Naruto, isn't it a little too late to make discussions about likings?" Interrupted his mother before giving more examples. "Go to bed young man and prepare for tomorrow. I think you should go to the park more often because you seem to like it." She let out a giggle before kissing him for good-night. He waved towards the adults and told them a quick 'Good-night'. Jiraiya, managing to return from his previous shock managed to turn towards the two 'girls' of the family.

"He really steps on his father's steps." With a smile he continued. "Today he gained a dream. He wants to be a better shinobi than his father and continue his work as Hokage."

Kushina squeaked. Now she wore a very happy expression and her eyes were telling everyone 'I knew it'. She gave her good-night to her olders letting them alone. Jiraiya, seeing they were alone asked Tsunade:

"So you were really serious when you said you would give a chance?"

She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and replied "I will think about it!"

They eventually became, what it could be told by any passerby, a simple couple. Years passed by before Naruto could find himself in front of Konoha academy at the age of seven. He was surrounded by the persons most precious to him who gave him a 'Good luck' before turning towards his friends. School was going to be a pain in the ass but he needed to pass it to come closer to title of Hokage.

* * *

Yay… finished the second chapter.

What do you think about it? Please review concerning this!

Also, as you can see, I decided to make JiraTsu very quick fast-forwarding the process. I will show however in the next chapters flashbacks to how they gained their newly title of 'couple'.

Another thing I decided to make is the 5 years school program. The manga offers us ambiguous details about how much ninja academy takes but I decided to make it 5 years.

Hope you enjoyed reading and be tuned for my next chapter "School life"


	3. Academy troubles

A/N Okay, here's the third chapter. Well firstly, I would like to thank all those who reviewed the last chapters so I will try to do it even better this time, in hope that I will get reviewed, since reviews are one of the most important aspects of a fan fiction writer. So, now to reply to the review of Vorgonaz and I will try to explain to my best why Tsunade decided to 'turn over' her Senju Heritage.

The first thing I can say is that she technically didn't turn over, she is technically still a Senju. She is like adopted into the Namikaze clan to form it, while still being the last of the Senju. The same thing goes to Jiraiya as well. Kushina, I decided to give her a more specific role, so to be the clan's leader in the council chambers, she 'married' post-mortem with Minato so that she can be the legal mother towards Naruto and the current clan leader. So back to Tsunade, she is 'unofficially' a Namikaze, but being official enough to let her form the clan, because mainly said, the Senju clan is extinct. Well anyways, this is my vision towards this issue and I think it is practical as well to put it this way.

The interesting things will start from this chapter, a chapter which covers Naruto's 5 years of academy and maybe the team selection, tough I was thinking to leave it for the next chapter since it will make my story very interesting.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or its characters which are used into this story, the copyright being owned by Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto. This is a story only for fan purposes. (I decided to make it better since I forgot to make the disclaimer last chapter….)

Hope you enjoy reading this chapter!

* * *

"_Live to learn."_

The people precious to him gave their goodbyes. What remained for him to do? He turned towards his friends who were getting their last goodbyes from their parents. As long as he would be near them, Naruto knew that he would not have any problems because they were meant to help each other in their needs. This sensation was new to him however. As he was stepping nearer and nearer the big building in front of him, he was feeling an increase in his daze the nearer he got. He had a strange feeling that this place will change his life very much. He will become a ninja, a trained assassin but a savior at the same time but could he do it? He shook his uncertainty from his thoughts as he came near his friends.

"Hey guys!" he shouted towards them.

"Hey Naruto!" said each of the boys in front of him as they shook his hand or patted him on his shoulder.

Shikamaru, Kiba, Chouji, Sasuke and now Naruto gave each other a brief nod and started walking into the academy together.

On the outside, the academy wasn't so much anything else than a big building, maybe the biggest in the whole village after the hospital. There were practice targets and a small forest, probably all for training. A small spar field could be seen as well. In the interior however, the building was amazing. The first thing that could be seen after entering, were the big corridors that ran towards the classrooms, corridors which were ornate with kunais or shurikens. The inside was like living into an ant next. Teachers were going everywhere checking on their students and the students were hurrying for their classrooms. Each of the 5 boys muttered something after hearing the loudspeakers going on and transmitted the message 'All new students please present outside!'

It was actually a beautiful summer day and the summer was already smiling happily on the sky even thoe it was still 9 o'clock in the morning. The five boys were now lying on the grass near the academy, currently waiting for their designated chunin while looking at the other new boys and girls. Some of the girls were looking quizzically at the group which made Naruto raise a brow and ask.

"Geez, why are those girls looking like that at us? IT looks like they know but don't know us at the same time."

Shikamaru shrugged "I wouldn't bother with them. I, for one, think that all the other girls are troublesome and the most troublesome of them all is my kaa-san." He said with a sigh while the boys near him were sharing his.

Seeing the gloomy feeling of thought of their mothers, Kiba saw an opportunity.

"Hey guys." And he took the boys attention. "Why don't we guys go somewhere to eat, because we are big boys now." He said while grinning.

"That's a very good idea, Kiba" Naruto came in front of them. "We should ask our moms for some money and I have the perfect place to go as well. Two years ago, when we begun our friendship, when returning home, I passed near a ramen shop which smelled very nice."

Sasuke replied the first. "That's a very good idea Naruto." While smiling, he continued "My kaa-san never let me eat ramen, saying that it is very unhealthy."

Shikamaru nodded and before he stated his point of view, he was interrupted by a person recently appeared in the middle of a small leaf storm who got their attention.

"Okay students, I want all of you gathered in front of me and my partner."

After 5 minutes of pushes and pulls, everyone found a place to stay and listened carefully to the man which was dressed with a green vest, meaning he was maybe a leader or something. With a sigh of relief that everything got faster than planned, he continued.

"My name is Umino Iruka and I, along my partner, Mizuki will be your chunin teachers. You are our first class so I beckon it will be a small problem so please, if anything occurs to you, tell me so I can improve. We will try to teach you the way of a ninja and will get you started on your path. It will be a dangerous enough so I would like to leave you a moment of thinking if you want to step back now before taking any further perils, perils that can go up to…death."

Seeing that none of them said something, he nodded and continued.

"Very good. I will start by requesting your name. If don't feel shy or something, you can make a small introduction to yourself as well."

Then they started saying their names as Iruka tried to remember each one. The first girl in the left was looking very flustered. She had very beautiful pink bubblegum hair. After a few seconds of stuttering she managed to say her name. "Sakura….Haruno Sakura"

"What a beautiful na-." Iruka was interrupted by 4 boys who were teasing one who was staring blankly at the clouds. "Shut up boys! Wait up for your turn and don't disturb the others again." Iruka yelled back at them. Seeing them nod he sighed mentally 'This is going to be five long years'. "Next!"

The group of thirty small people who stood in front of him was now approaching the end as a very long half an hour passed for Iruka. There were small gasps when there were heard names as "Ino Yamanaka" or "Hinata Hyuga", but nothing would have prepared him for what it was going to be when he reached the final five boys and let them present themselves.

The boy on the grass decided to make it to the point. "Shikamaru Nara" and there went another few gasps. The next boy, who was lying near Shikamaru, put his hand behind his head and grinned. "Kiba Inuzuka" another few gasps. They were getting really annoying. The next boy was munching some chips before getting interrupted by Iruka's 'Next'. "My name is Chouji Akimichi". And there, how you knew it? Another few gasps…

It was Sasuke's turn now. With a smile on his face he told the persons in front him his name.

"Sasuke Uchiha". Almost one minute passed. He turned towards the children and he frowned seeing that no-one thought his clan was great. Of course, he was oblivious to what would happen in the next few seconds. The only thing he heard was an "AAAAAHHHHHH! It's Sasuke-kun" and then his vision flashed black. Iruka seeing this, asked his comrade to help him remove the girls who were sitting atop an unconscious Sasuke. Almost all the girls lost their control seeing that the one and only Sasuke Uchiha was in front of them, the boy they admired since they were very young. He really changed because none of his fan girls recognized him at first. This was totally a new sight to the boys gathered there.

After managing to calm the girls down, Iruka turned towards Naruto to see his puzzling face.

"Is he going to be okay?" Naruto asked.

Iruka nodded. "Now present yourself."

Naruto nodded and he wanted to give a lengthy impression and maybe make even more friends so he decided to make a small introduction. "Well, my name is Naruto Namikaze." There was another fan girl moment in the air and Naruto felt it so he hurried his introduction. "The only other thing is about what I really want, is to become Hokage just like my father and protect everyone in the village." And then, BAM, he dropped unconscious as his friend after the fan girls were literally hanging on him as their life would depend on it. This would be a memorable day, for Iruka as well. He saw the small child being the rope in a tug'o'war contest between the girls, with a fond smile on his face but dark thoughts in his mind as well. He will become the teacher of the jail of the demon which killed his family…

A week passed since the graduation. Everything was starting to get on monotone points. Naruto was waking up early, he had a hour of taijutsu with Jiraiya, a hour of chakra control with Tsunade and the hour long listening to his mother telling him what he should do and what not. Then he went to school where he found his friends waiting for him for like always. "She did it again, didn't she? " Shikamaru was asking every morning. The only reply he would get was a tired nod. The next thing that seemed already so normal was the wave of fan girls he got the second he entered the school. Actually he was glad he had a companion to run with from their 'wrath', Sasuke. Today tough, was not going to be a normal day because it will change the life of his self-named 'brother'.

"You know that Naruto-kun is better than your Sasuke-_kun_"

"Sasuke-kun could beat your Naruto-_kun_ to a pulp."

"Well, 'Godaime-kun' is going to be the best."

And they went like this all the morning until their senseis would come. Naruto turned towards Sasuke and muttered to him:

"Damn…this morning they are more tiring than ever."

Sasuke nodded and let it be.

"I bet Sasuke-kun kisses better than your Naruto-_kun_".

There it was, the glass wall has been broken. The two boys turned angered towards the source of the last statement. She had pink hair tied into a ponytail by a red scarf. Naruto and Sasuke glared at the girl so they would be sure she received this. Naruto, tough still angered by her outburst, was looking now at her with curiosity as he forgot something…somethi-

'That's right! She's the same girl I have seen in the park two years ago when she was looking at Sasuke.' After giving her some other comparative glares he continued his thoughts 'and she is cutter than then.' A small blush tinting his cheeks now. She didn't see the blush on Naruto's face or _how_ he was looking at her but Sasuke surely did and he found a new teasing method on Naruto and he was _sure_ that Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji should know as well. With a chuckle he whispered his blond friend: "You can have her. I don't like her!" Seeing the silent that was emanating from the blond and the blush which covered Naruto's face he surely did hit Jackpot with this one. Naruto finally recovered from the shock Sasuke put him trough he whispered back:

"She likes you tough, so I won't even talk to her. I don't even know her name."

Sasuke, with a smirk tugged on his lips, decided to not push further until he gathered with all the boys.

Sakura, in the meantime tormented herself with the glare she got from the two boys. Maybe she did push too many buttons so she would lay it cool until tomorrow. After all, tomorrow was going to be another day. Her thoughts were gone when Iruka came into class and begun teaching 'The Hokage, and his role' lesson. Everyone either groaned or let out a whine before listening to the lesson. Of course, there can be exceptions as well…Naruto…

The day reentered into the monotones so all the children found themselves going through another boring day. The evening caught up and the school time was finally over. Another ran from the fan girls and so, the five friends found themselves at Ichiraku Ramen, their favorite meeting place. Shikamaru was the first to open up the discussion, which very surprisingly was about…girls.

"Okay, so I got one of your blond fan girl weirdoes Sasuke that catches glances towards me. I don't like this at all."

Sasuke waved his hand to show that he didn't care.

"You can take her. It is the same thing I told Naruto today when he was…" The mischievous eyes blinked once and Naruto was already sweating a little and blood started to rush on his face; "when he was looking at a girl and I think he likes her." The three other boys fell deadpanned and Kiba even let out an 'ewwww' but then they found teasing him on the new 'crush'.

"It's really nothing like that guys. I just found her cute but nothing more. She wouldn't even look at me because she likes Sasuke. She likes him for over 2 years, since I saw her in the park where we all met." He replied to them with a smile.

"Oh…I believe that I will never love." Shikamaru told them and shrugged. "I don't think I will get a crush as well." And all laughed. They were still children. However their pleasant afternoon looked now, the night will come and will change their lives…forever.

Sasuke was on his way home after having a wondrous day. He stopped a little because he had a really weird feeling so he found running afterwards. Reaching the Uchiha Compound's entrance he found himself staring at a shadow atop an electricity pole. He shrugged seeing that the shadow disappeared and continued his walk. His breath stopped, his heart skipped a few beats and tears were starting to run down his cheeks. The sight that met him left him struck. He saw his uncle and aunt dead. He tried to wake them thinking that they were sleeping until he saw the blood dripping on his hands. By gut feelings, he got rapidly on his feet and started running towards his home. He felt almost dead when he saw his mother lying on top of his father with a sword piercing them both. He knelt before them and started to cry.

"Don't worry little brother, they are dead now." He was met by the voice of his brother.

Sasuke got up on his feet trembling and threw a punch at Itachi. "Why brother? Why…did you do it?"

Itachi replied with an emotionless voice carrying killing intent along with it. "I needed to test my skills."

Sasuke rushed towards his brother for another punch. Itachi caught up his wrist and used Tsukuyomi. Sasuke found himself in the black world for three days. When he left the horrible place he was frozen. He knew that this was a forbidden technique because of the method which was procured which of course he didn't know it.

"Become stronger. Kill your best friend and come after me to get your revenge!" And with that Itachi disappeared. Sasuke fell down on the floor crying and he soon fell into a coma.

The next morning found Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kushina in the council room hearing that there were important news from the Hokage. When they arrived, the council room was full, after a long time, bearing members from each of the other clans except only one.

"Where are the Uchiha's? They are very punctual!" Noted Tsunade.

Any reply she would receive was interrupted by the Sandaime.

"Hello fellow councilmen, Konoha villagers, brothers and sisters. Today we are meeting because of an event that took place last night. The whole Uchiha clan was slaughtered was Uchiha Itachi from still unknown reasons." The whole meeting was silent but gasps could be heard everywhere. Sarutobi continued. "Uchiha Itachi left after the event the village and right now, ANBU are searching for him as well the entire Uchiha Compound. From the search, everyone is dead except Uchiha Itachi's little brother, Uchiha Sasuke. Right now he is under intensive care at the Hospital after receiving what we believe to be a Mangekyu Sharingan technique. Every-"he was interrupted by an angered voice.

"Why wasn't I announced earlier?" Tsunade yelled glaring at her sensei. She turned around and started running towards the Hospital.

"Ahem." Sarutobi announced the villagers who turned around to him after the little incident."I want the families whose children are friends with Sasuke to be near him after he wakes up from his coma. The funerals will be held this night." And with that he left.

Kushina was crying. She didn't felt this depressed since the time her lover died. She made a very deep bond with Mikoto and they were like caring together for their sons, so she developed a motherly instinct towards Itachi and Sasuke as well. She found herself into Jiraiya's comforting hug and saw his look which was saying 'I know how you feel'. The two of them left towards the Namikaze Compound to give Naruto the news.

When Jiraiya and Kushina arrived at the compound, instead of Naruto, they found a note from him. 'Meet me at the Hospital' it said. With that in mind they set off to the Hospital. They asked the receptionist where was Sasuke. In front of room 102, they found Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba all saddened. In the room it could be heard Tsunade giving indications on what the nurses should do.

Jiraiya put a hand on Naruto shoulder and the other one on Shikamaru's one.

"Don't worry guys! Sasuke will recover quickly under the treatment of Tsunade" He said with confidence in his voice, a confidence which was slowly degrading as one day passed and nothing happened. And so, two days, three day and finally in the fourth day, Sasuke gave a sign of life by leaving a tear down his cheek. Only on the sixth day after the 'Uchiha Incident' he woke up from his sleep. The others were at the academy when they received the news. Of course, his fan girls were the first to enter and not leave air to breath into the hospital room. Sasuke was already weak so Tsunade stepped in and shouted at the girls to leave him alone. The next ones were his friends. The first thing they saw was the glare they received from Sasuke.

"Get out of my face!" he yelled at them.

Naruto stepped in front of them and looked stricken at his friend. "But don't you recognize us?"

"Of course I do, my so called 'friends'!"

_FLASHBACK_

_Itachi casted Tsukuyomi on Sasuke. Sasuke found himself in an entirely black world with nothing else than his image. He stared for some seconds at a crow in front of him. 'When did this appear?' he asked himself. Then just in front of his eyes, the crow appeared to grow in size and transform into what is seemed to be a human body._

"_Welcome to my world Sasuke. Here I can control everything. With my Tsukuyomi I will apply you to 72 hours of mental torture and outside will only take 3 seconds. Prepare yourself."_

"_Why are you doing this nii-chan?" shouted Sasuke._

"_To test my abilities. I think I already mentioned this." He snapped his fingers and 4 figures appeared in front of Sasuke, who was trying to move but found that he couldn't. He froze again when he saw that the figures in front of him were his own friends. _

"_Hahaha….look at how weak the Uchiha brat is right now!" laughed Naruto._

"_And damn, he surely doesn't do anything good for us!" continued Kiba._

"_Weakling!" Shikamaru's turn._

"_And I surely don't give a damn on him because he always says that I am a fat-ass." Continued Chouji with a glare._

_All four of them started to laugh. "But you are a fat-ass Chouji!"_

_After the laughter died they chorused. "Now let's kill him!" And each one of them was thrusting their small katanas threw Sasuke's body, each more painful than the other._

_The triads went on for three days. Sasuke right now was crying and he fell on the ground._

_Itachi snapped again his fingers and the black world mysteriously disappeared. _

'What the hell did he went though?' Tsunade was asking herself.

Shikamaru looked quite unresponsive to the situation. Only his friends would know what was really in his head right now. The key to why was Sasuke comporting this way and the sorrow he got from the way he used the term 'friend'. Kiba was already out of the door and towards his home, hoping he would get some comfort by his elder sister, Hana. Chouji was munching like a maniac, while trying to keep back his tears.

No one needed to turn towards Naruto except Kushina, who took the little boy in her arms while he was sobbing. Everyone knew just how much a brother Sasuke meant to Naruto.

The next day went smoothly at the academy. Sasuke was still in hospital for one week and the fan girls were still waiting for him, especially the pink-haired girl whom Naruto didn't know her name. He really was in need to be comforted but he felt like the girls needed someone as well since they really seemed to care for the Uchiha. Naruto's fan girls were now snickering in the back and shouting in front of Sasuke's ones things like: 'We told you that Naruto-kun is the best and Sasuke the worst!' and then, laughter.

The whole week went on this way until Sasuke entered the classroom the day he was free from the hospital. Everyone gasped looking at him. Not only he was wearing different clothes, a blackish blue with the Uchiha emblem on his back and black cargo-pants with standard ninja sandals, but he was emanating a dark aura as well while wearing a very cool façade. To simply say that his fan girls were simply staring at him was an understatement because they were even fonder of his new-found 'coolness'. His 'friends' were absolutely shocked, feeling the slight killing instinct shot towards them. Shikamaru gulped and a wary 'Troublesome' was dancing in his head. Kiba growled and Chouji decided to turn towards something else, his cheese chips. Naruto, after some seconds of thinking, was returning the glare to the Uchiha. Seeing that the Uchiha was going towards the back of the classroom, Naruto tried to turn towards him but a whispered voice echoed in his head. 'We are now rivals who will try to kill each other. Prepare yourself for when the time will come.' Things were getting really ugly. Naruto thinking that this might be serious, he started training harder and so Jiraiya couldn't be happier of his student not knowing his true intentions. The only thing Naruto could think now is that whatever changed his friend so much to be skipped through and that a part of the old Sasuke could still be found somewhere inside of him.

And so, two years have passed from _that_ incident. Konoha and it's children were growing up evenly. In the meantime, the next generations of shinobi were working harder to surpass the older generations. Sasuke was lonely and practicing shuriken throwing being watched by his fan girls who were 'hiding'. Naruto was having a taijutsu spar with Kiba, both being top taijutsu students under Sasuke (of course) each having his family style, each getting better and better. Shikamaru was playing shoji with himself, trying to devise new strategies. Chouji was eating as much as he could so he could test the new technique his father taught him. After a while, Naruto and Kiba decided to take a break so Naruto went to a bench and started to search for a certain someone. He really started to like her and he thought that this might be his first crush. He remembered the day when he told his mother each every time he was looking for her.

_FLASHBACK_

_Naruto was really anxious to ask Kushina something and she really saw this so she took the first step and asked him._

"_Hey dear. What's wrong? Want to ask something?"_

_He blushed under her gaze and started fiddling with his fingers. "Well…uhm…what does…a boy…when he likes a girl?"_

_Kushina hearing that gave a giggle and pinched her son on the cheek. "Well, well. My son really grows up quickly. So who is this 'special' girl?" She pinched him again._

"_Well I don't know her name…but she is really cute and I think I like her."_

"_Okay big boy!" Kushina giggled because she gave this nick to Minato as well. "All you need to do is to date her. You will learn more about her and maybe you will find out if she feels the same."_

_Naruto turned downcast immediately. Kushina asked, seeing his son in such a state after only a few words. "Oh…what's with the big face?"_

"_Well…she likes Sasuke. She likes him since we were 5 and even now when he is like a public enemy, she likes him even more, like all his other fan girls."_

"_Oh. Don't worry; there are many other girls around Konoha from which you can choose. And didn't you have a big rooster of fan girls yourself?" Kushina giggled again, seeing she had hit the nail._

One year already, but he still liked her. He knew she had something special but he didn't know what. He didn't even know her name. He should talk sometime to her. He didn't saw her anywhere so he thought that she was with Sasuke…again. His thoughts interrupted when Iruka called all his students.

"Okay students, today we will have a little sparing match because I have a little surprise for the winner of this little tournament. I want all of you to take one of this papers which have a number written on them. The order of the participants will be made by these papers." Each of his students took one paper and waited for further orders.

"Okay, now that you have these papers I want all of you to say your names and your number."

Naruto, taking a glance at the pink-haired girl who returned after the gaze contest with the other girls, thought that she could finally know her name. The students in the meantime, started to say what they were told.

"Inuzuka Kiba, number 3", "Namikaze Naruto, number 7" , "Uchiha Sasuke, number 28", "Akimichi Chouji, number 27"… "Haruno Sakura, number 8"…'So Sakura is her name. He surely looks like one' Naruto thought while a pink tint was rising on his cheeks and of course, too preoccupied to think who was he going to fight with.

Iruka made his final announcement with the rules before he got the contest started. When the contest started, the participants were either using academy taijutsu or their family created ones. Catfights between fan girls for Naruto and Sasuke were of course, inevitable.

"Number 7 and number 8, please step forward." Iruka announced.

Naruto woke up from his dreams when he saw who was standing in front of him. The girl he liked a lot, Sakura. 'I can't fight her.' He yelled in his mind. Sakura was just looking at him, apologetically.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Sakura asked

Naruto bluffed. "You already won. I am not good at taijutsu" Sasuke was laughing as most of the class as well. Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji, besides him, knew the only motive he couldn't fight and it was just obvious if you looked at Naruto a whole day of academy.

"Don't make me laugh! Now fight!" Intoned Sakura thinking he was mocking her. 'I need to show Sasuke-kun my real power' her inner replied.

Sakura charged head on at Naruto with the thought in her mind. Naruto sighed and with one move he turned enough to evade her attack and catch her wrist. She tried to get free to no avail. Naruto span her once so she would come face to face with him. With his free hand, Naruto prepared a punch. Sakura prepared to get the hit closed her eyes. Seeing that the inevitable wouldn't happen, she opened her eyes only to see Naruto's punch in front of her face.

"I lose. I can't hit a girl." Naruto sighed and let her go, turning toward his friends. On his way back he got applauded by his friends and whistled by his fan girls who were seeing more a knight in shining armor in him than ever.

"Uhm…ok…Haruno Sakura wins. Number 9 and number 10, please step forward!" Iruka announced.

Sakura turned towards her friends as well. Her only thoughts were ironically not at the disgrace she got in face of her 'Sasuke-kun', but why Naruto wouldn't hit her because not only she was one of Sasuke's fan girls but because she didn't get well altogether with him.

The 'tournament' went like this all morning and evening. The winner? No other than Sasuke. The surprise however, it was the least thing he would have thought of. A diplomacy mission along the Hokage and his personal ANBU guard towards Iwakagure. He was depressed days in a row after their arrival back, a thought which made snicker rang in the classroom for another week.

* * *

Time in school really passes to fast. Naruto was already 12 and the graduation exam from the academy was already 2 weeks away. Naruto was feeling very sad. He liked the same girl. Something was just not right between him and her and she still wasn't looking at him. Today was the day he would go after her.

He followed her until she got near the exit of the village apparently, following…Sasuke? He got in hearing range and the only things he got from Sasuke before leaving with a shunshin were… 'You're annoying' He saw Sakura sit on the lonely bench looking dejected, so he decided to comfort her. He jumped in front of her and waved a 'Hello' before sitting near her.

"What do _you_ want?" Sakura asked wiping her tears.

"I came to see how you are feeling."

"Why would you care?"

"Because…" He bit his lips "…I want to be your friend."

The silence went on for some seconds…Sakura's sobs were breaking from time to time the silence but after 5 minutes, Naruto became very obnoxious so he continued.

"What do you think?"

Seeing that she wasn't replying he decided to take one step forward.

"Okay. So what do you think of Sasuke?"

She was visibly taken back by the question, but like her inner persona she replied almost by reflex.

"Well…I think he is smart, cool and very cute."

Naruto nodded and proceeded to the next question.

"What do you think of me?"

She bowed her head down.

"I don't know what to think of you. I think you're cool and very powerful." She raised her head and her lips were now tugged into a smile. "And I would like to be your friend."

Naruto shook her hand and continued.

"So what do you really want from Sasuke? Why are you fan girling around him?"

She proceeds with another bow down of her head.

"Acknowledgement." She said. "I want to at least care for me, to like me, to say I am strong and I hate the people who like to get between him and my love for him."

Naruto…was slightly shocked. He was pushed all around by important people to become greater, to grow just like his father. Many people were viewing him as his father. He wanted more acknowledgment for the person he was, not the one he was supposed to be. The only people that gave him this acknowledgment were his mother and Tsunade. Jiraiya was thinking of him as his godson but was relieving the past trough his training. Right there and right then, he found out he needed the acknowledgement for who he was from one more person, the girl he liked a lot, Sakura. They were very much alike. He would surely keep on this friendship for as long as he could. He found his reason in life, to make the others happy.

* * *

A/N Phew. This is it. After like 4 versions in my PC and a whole lot a hell program, I finally finished the chapter and I hope it was worth reading. Okay, I know that I have some plot holes but I will try to rectificate them as I continue with the story. It seems I decided to keep the graduation and team selection in the next chapter so stay tuned.

I decided to make a small profile for each of the main characters showing their personality.

Namikaze Naruto – being raised by a family, he grew up more calmly even thoe he still shows some stupid moments. The main part in his life is to become acknowledged by people who regard him as Naruto, not as his father. This chapter has shown some small NaruSaku interactions which will be used in further chapters. In the bench there aren't plot holes. I will cover the whole thing in the next chapters and I decided to make this as a starting point of NaruSaku just like in the manga so it will be fairly inspired by it.

Haruno Sakura – she is quite in the same state as in the start of the manga, only less fan girling around Sasuke (except the introduction and first days in academy). She really likes Sasuke, a crush that goes towards 'platonic love'. Her newfound friendship with Naruto will make her realize that she doesn't want Sasuke's acknowledgment but a different one. She will develop just like in the manga just a little bit faster.

Uchiha Sasuke – I decided to make the tipping point by recreating the Uchiha Massacre and his newfound objectives, to kill Itachi for the death of his clan and Naruto for the acts he made in Tsukuyomi, the place where Sasuke had a breakdown which induced him a coma that changed his life, making him live a solitary life and train harder than any other student so Sasuke is really almost the same in the manga.

Skipping the few plot holes which I hope I will be addressing soon, I think that this chapter is really crappy :D (my opinion, really) but the good news are that I am done fast-forwarding the time at hand and start to show slowly how my Naruto-Universe evolves. I will make my story as original as I can as well, so from now on there will be only slight inspirations from the REAL Naruto-Universe.

With this addressed, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter (even thoe I think it is really crappy) and please review so I can improve my problems.


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